Apparatus and method for zone management

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to a sensor network, machine type communication (MTC), machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, and technology for Internet of things (IoT). The present disclosure may be applied to intelligent services based on the above technologies, such as smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car, connected car, health care, digital education, smart retail, security and safety services. An apparatus for zone management is provided. The apparatus includes a processor configured to collect environment information of each zone of a plurality of zones, and determine an energy efficiency level of each zone of the plurality of zones based on the environment information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of a Koreanpatent application filed on Aug. 5, 2014 in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office and assigned Serial number 10-2014-0100358, the entiredisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a method and an apparatus for zonemanagement.

BACKGROUND

The Internet, which is a human centered connectivity network wherehumans generate and consume information, is now evolving to the Internetof things (IoT) where distributed entities, such as things, exchange andprocess information without human intervention. The Internet ofeverything (IoE), which is a combination of the IoT technology and thebig data processing technology through connection with a cloud server,has emerged. As technology elements, such as “sensing technology”,“wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure”, “serviceinterface technology”, and “security technology” have been demanded forIoT implementation, a sensor network, a machine-to-machine (M2M)communication, machine type communication (MTC), and so forth have beenrecently researched.

Such an IoT environment may provide intelligent Internet technologyservices that create a new value to human life by collecting andanalyzing data generated among connected things. IoT may be applied to avariety of fields including smart home, smart building, smart city,smart car or connected cars, smart grid, health care, smart appliancesand advanced medical services through convergence and combinationbetween existing information technology (IT) and various industrialapplications.

A present-day service industry is gradually growing on a large scale. Inthe large-scale service business, it is economically inefficient toassign zones to a plurality of users at random or arbitrarily in anaccommodation facility such as a hotel or hospital. Accordingly, it isadvantageous to assign the zone to the user according to a condition ofthe user or the facility. However, it is quite cumbersome and requiresmuch time to assign the room one by one in the large-scale facility bytaking into account as many conditions as possible. Hence, it isrequired to adopt a zone assignment system and to assign the zonecorresponding to demands of the user and a manager by considering asmany conditions as possible.

For the zone assignment, the manager may use a property managementsystem (PMS). The PMS may provide the manager with reservationinformation such as user name, length of stay, and required zonefeatures collected by a reservation system, and guest preference andclass information and zone status information of the PMS.

Reservation using the PMS filters available zones corresponding toreservation information or guest information and then lists the zones ina descending/ascending order based on a zone name, a zone number, orfrequency of use. However, the reservation using the PMS does notconsider energy efficiency. Cooling and heating energies in a zoneoccupy 30˜50% of total energy consumption. Cooling and heating energysaving is very important in carbon dioxide emission regulations andoperating expense reduction. An energy saving method of the related artreduces the cooling and heating in vacancy or focuses on efficiencies ofcooling and heating system components. In this regard, what is needed isa zone assignment system using a zone managing device based on the zoneenergy efficiency in the PMS.

The above information is presented as background information only toassist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determinationhas been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the abovemight be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the present disclosure are to address at least theabove-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at leastthe advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the presentdisclosure is to provide an apparatus and a method for zone assignmentbased on energy efficiency.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide an apparatus anda method for prioritizing zone assignment based on energy efficiency.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide an apparatus anda method for zone assignment based on a user characteristic.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus forzone management is provided. The apparatus includes a processorconfigured to collect environment information of each zone of aplurality of zones, and determine an energy efficiency level of eachzone of the plurality of zones based on the environment information.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a methodfor zone management is provided. The method includes collectingenvironment information of each zone of a plurality of zones anddetermining an energy efficiency level of each zone of the plurality ofzones based on the environment information.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings,discloses various embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certainembodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates energy efficiency gap based on spatial featuresaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an energy monitoring screen according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates zone reservation and assignment between a userequipment and a zone managing device according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates zone assignment between a user equipment and a zonemanaging device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a zone managing device according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a zone manager screen using a zone managing deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates zone information displayed by a zone managing deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a zone assignment screen of a zone managing deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 9A, 9B, 9C, and 9D illustrate zone assignments of a zone managingdevice based on an energy efficiency level according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates a zone management method of a zone managing deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates a zone managing device according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 12 illustrates zone control of a zone managing device according toan embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIGS. 13A, 13B, and 13C illustrate at least one embodiment using a zonemanaging device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals will be understood torefer to like parts, components, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings isprovided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of variousembodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and theirequivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in thatunderstanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatvarious changes and modifications of the various embodiments describedherein may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of thepresent disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functionsand constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are notlimited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by theinventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the presentdisclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in theart that the following description of various embodiments of the presentdisclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for thepurpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appendedclaims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the”include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes referenceto one or more of such surfaces.

By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic,parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations orvariations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error,measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those ofskill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effectthe characteristic was intended to provide.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a zone managementtechnique. Hereinafter, a structure includes a building, a hotel, ahospital, and various structures. A zone encompasses accommodations anda space or a room for rent including a hotel room, a hospital room, anda cruise cabin. The zone may be partitioned by a wall for residence,office, or a specific purpose. An apparatus indicates a device for usinga system of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates energy efficiency gap based on spatial featuresaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1, zones 110, 120, 130 and 140 are in the samestructure. Even in the same structure, the zones 110, 120, 130 and 140may exhibit different energy efficiencies according to various spatialfeatures such as zone location, zone floor, window direction, zone area,zone area contacting the outside, and temperature of a neighboring zone.Even in the same structure, the energy efficiency may vary according tothe zone. Accordingly, when a zone managing device assigns a zone ofhigh energy efficiency, the energy may be saved and expenses may bereduced. Hence, it is advantageous for the zone managing device toassign the zone in consideration of the energy efficiency.

FIG. 2 illustrates an energy monitoring screen according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, the zone managing device may obtain energyinformation of a structure. The zone managing device may obtain theenergy information of FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, a horizontal axis indicates thetime, a vertical axis indicates the energy consumption, and a solid line210 indicates an ambient temperature. The zone managing device mayobtain the energy information per zone, rather than energy informationof the whole structure or per floor. After obtaining the energyinformation, the zone managing device may assign the zones to users(e.g., user equipment) based on the energy efficiency using the energyinformation per zone.

Now, a plurality of zones (e.g., rooms) in the structure are assigned tousers. The zones may be assigned using the zone managing device. Zonereservation and assignment of the zone managing device shall beexplained in FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 3 illustrates zone reservation and assignment between a userequipment and a zone managing device according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3, in operation 310, the user equipment 301 inquiresof the zone managing device 303 of the zone reservation online oroffline. The user equipment 301 may obtain an available zone through thezone managing device 303.

In operation 320, the zone managing device 303 responds to thereservation inquiry of the user equipment 301. The reservation inquirymay be responded directly by the zone managing device 303, or respondedto the user equipment 301 after the zone managing device 303 checks anavailable zone using another apparatus.

In operation 330, the user equipment 301 may request a reservation forthe available zone based on the reservation response. The user equipment301 may request additional reservation details, or request reservationwaiting when there is no available zone.

In operation 340, the zone managing device 303 confirms the reservationof the user equipment 301. The zone managing device 303 may confirm thereservation to the user equipment 301 when the zone is available, ortransmit a reservation failure message to the user equipment 301 whenthe zone is not available.

FIG. 4 illustrates zone assignment between a user and a manageraccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 4, in operation 410, the zone managing device 403confirms zone assignment data of the user equipment 401. The zoneassignment data may include a date of the zone assignment requested bythe user equipment 401, a duration, a name, a zone type, userregistration information, a priority, a group, zone features, a zonerating, notes, smoking/non-smoking, a purpose of stay, and a zoneassignment agency.

In operation 420, the zone managing device 403 checks a list ofavailable zones. When the zone managing device 403 displays the list ofthe available zones, the zone managing device 403 may filter the zonesbased on options including a room housekeeping status, a zone class, andsmoking/non-smoking, and arrange the zones in an ascending or descendingorder based on their energy efficiency, a priority according to apreference, a zone number, and recent usage information.

In operation 430, the zone managing device 403 confirms the availablezone list and then assigns the zone to the user equipment 401.Alternatively, according to settings, the zone managing device 403 mayassign the zone directly to the user equipment 401 with traversing amanager.

FIG. 5 illustrates a zone managing device according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 5, a zone managing device 500 may include sensors 511to 517 for the zones, an energy management unit 520, and a zonemanagement unit 530.

The sensors 511 to 517 connected to the zones collect energy consumptioninformation of the zones. The energy consumption information of thezones may include a set-point temperature of a thermostat, an indoortemperature, a cooling/heating temperature in each zone, acooling/heating fan speed, and a cooling/heating time. The sensors 511to 517 may include a temperature and humidity sensor and an air flowsensor. The air flow sensor may detect the cooling/heating temperature,the cooling/heating fan speed, and the cooling/heating time in eachzone. The sensors 511 to 517 transmit the collected information to theenergy management unit 520.

The energy management unit 520 calculates the energy efficiency based onthe information collected from the sensors 511 to 517. The energymanagement unit 520 may receive the information from the sensors 511 to517 and calculate the energy efficiency per zone. The energy efficiencyper zone indicates energy consumed per unit temperature to reach the setpoint of the thermostat in a given zone. The less energy consumed perunit temperature, the higher energy efficiency. For example, the energymay include energy for heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC),and energy consumed to adjust the humidity. The energy efficiency perzone may be calculated by the energy manager using an energy efficiencyfunction and at least one weight on the zone condition or weatherinformation at the zone assignment.

The energy management unit 520 may obtain the energy efficiency functionusing regression analysis. The regression analysis acquires a resultvalue from past data. The efficiency function may be determined from thepast data of the energy applied based on a difference of the set-pointtemperature and the indoor temperature. The energy management unit 520may determine the function using an incremental method. For example, theenergy management unit 520 may determine the energy efficiency byweighting the most recent value for the regression analysis of thefunction. Hence, the energy management unit 520 may acquire the energyefficiency based on recent conditions by weighting in order of 1-day,1-week, and 1-month. The zone consuming more energy according to thefunction result exhibits low energy efficiency.

The energy management unit 520 may calculate the energy efficiency usingthe function by applying a particular condition to the function. Forexample, the energy management unit 520 may define the set point basedon an outdoor temperature or an indoor temperature, and calculate theenergy efficiency by further considering a sunshine amount, winddirection and velocity, a temperature of a neighboring zone, andfeatures of the structure.

The energy efficiency of the zone may vary according to the zone type.For example, the energy efficiency of a hotel may vary according to thepurpose of visit, and the energy efficiency of a hospital may varyaccording to the number of patients in a room. The energy efficiency ofa cruise ship may vary according to an infrastructural change. Theinfrastructure may include a sailing direction of the ship, a windowdirection, and a wind direction.

The energy management unit 520 transmits the energy efficiencyinformation acquired using the function, to the zone management unit530.

The zone management unit 530 stores reservation information and guestinformation in a database. The zone management unit 530 further storeszone status information including the energy efficiency informationreceived from the energy management unit 520. The zone statusinformation is updated on a periodic basis. The zone status informationmay be updated under a preset condition, for example, when the changeexceeds a threshold. The zone management unit 530 may arrange the storedinformation in an ascending or descending order based on a particularcondition, and display the arranged information through a displaydevice. The zone management unit 530 may assign the zone based on thepriority without traversing the manager according to the settings.

FIG. 6 illustrates a zone manager screen using a zone managing deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 6, in a zone manager screen 600, Lv denotes an energyefficiency level of the zone. The energy efficiency level may divide acriterion and a grade of sections according to manager settings. Afterthe energy efficiency per zone is calculated, the zone managing devicemay arrange zones based on their energy efficiency and may determine theenergy efficiency level using top % or a clustering technique of machinelearning based on a preset criterion.

The zone managing device may detect and report an abnormality to thezone manager. Herein, the zone managing device may include a cooling andheating device. When updating the energy efficiency and detecting adifference between new energy efficiency and the existing energyefficiency over a threshold, the zone managing device may determine andreport the abnormality to the zone manager. Herein, the report maydisplay an alarm, display a screen, or transmit an e-mail or a textmessage to an engineer.

FIG. 7 illustrates zone information displayed by a zone managing deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 7, the zone managing device may display zoneinformation 700, which is not limited to, not only a zone number, a zoneclass, a zone housekeeping status, a check-in status, a reservationstatus, and features but also the energy efficiency level of the zonedetermined by the zone managing device.

FIG. 8 illustrates a zone assignment screen of a zone managing deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 8, in a zone assignment screen 800, the zone managingdevice may display an available zone (e.g., available room 109) 810according to a name 820 of a user, and the manager may arrange thedisplayed information based on a particular condition and assign theuser the most appropriate zone meeting the condition among the arrangedzones.

FIGS. 9A to 9D illustrate zone assignments of a zone managing devicebased on an energy efficiency level according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 9A illustrates a list of energy efficiencies per zone before thearrangement.

Referring to FIG. 9A, in a list 910 of energy efficiencies per zone, thezone managing device defines the energy efficiency level of each zoneand then display the energy efficiency levels of the zones. The zonemanaging device may display the energy efficiency levels of the zones byapplying a different color to each level.

FIG. 9B illustrates a list of energy efficiencies per zone after thearrangement.

Referring to FIG. 9B, in a list 920 of energy efficiencies per zone, thezone managing device may arrange the zones based on the energyefficiency level in an ascending or descending order. The zone managingdevice may not only arrange the zones but also adjust the number of thezones.

FIG. 9C illustrates filtered zones based on the number of reservedzones.

Referring to FIG. 9C, in filtered zones 930 based on the number ofreserved zones, the zone managing device may filter the zones based onthe energy efficiency level. According to the manager settings, the zonemanaging device may filter and display the zones from the highestefficiency to the number of the reserved zones in the list arranged inthe descending order of the energy efficiency level.

Referring to FIG. 9D, the zone managing device may assign a zone 940according to a user characteristic. For example, when a business gueststays at a hotel in a regular pattern, it is easy to control the zone.Hence, the zone may be controlled based on the pattern by assigning azone of a low energy efficiency level. A tourist guest stays at a hotelin an irregular pattern, so the zone control may be required. Forexample, since the tourist guest enters and leaves the zone irregularlyand frequently turns the air conditioner on and off, it is advantageousto assign a zone of high energy efficiency. As such, it is advantageousto assign the tourist guest the zone of the high energy efficiency andthe business guest the zone of the low energy efficiency.

The zone managing device may assign a low energy efficiency zone to auser going out for a long time because he/she tends to use the zone lessthan a user going out for a while, and assign a high energy efficiencyzone to the user going out for a while.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a zone management method of a zone managingdevice according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 10, in operation 1010, the zone managing devicedetermines the energy level. The zone managing device receivesenvironment information from the sensors of each zone.

In operation 1020, the zone managing device determines the energyefficiency based on the received environment information, determines theenergy level of each zone based on the determined energy efficiency, anddisplays the energy level of the zones. The zone managing device mayconfirm the reservation and then display, arrange, and filter the listof the available zones based on a preset condition by considering theuser information, the zone feature information, and the zone energyefficiency. Based on the displayed zone list, the manager may assign thezone to the user. The zone managing device may assign the zone to theuser based on the preset priority by considering the user information,the zone information, and the energy efficiency, without traversing themanager.

Although not illustrated, the zone managing device manages the zone. Thezone managing device may control the zone of the user based on the userinformation pre-input. For example, the zone managing device may adjustthe current temperature to a user's desired temperature according to theinput user information, control lighting at a user's desired intensity,or open and close a curtain according to a user's preference.

When the user assigned the zone requests zone reassignment, the zonemanaging device may display the zone list to the user and guide the userto select an energy efficient zone by limiting and prioritizingavailable zones based on the energy efficiency.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a zone managing device according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 11, the zone managing device 500 includes acommunication unit 1110, a storage unit (e.g., memory) 1120, a processor1130, a display 1140, and at least one sensor 1150. The processor 1130includes an energy management processor 1132 and a zone managementprocessor 1134.

The communication unit 1110 transmits and receives signals. Inparticular, the communication unit 1110 may process communicationbetween the sensor 1150 and the processor 1130, communication betweenthe processor 1130 and the storage unit 1120, and communication betweenthe processor 1130 and the display 1140 in each zone. The communicationunit 1110 transmits reservation information to a user equipment. Here,the reservation information may include at least one user name and atleast one room number. The communication unit 1110 may be referred to asa transmitter, a receiver, or a transceiver.

The storage unit 1120 stores a basic program for operating the zonemanaging device 500 for the energy efficiency, an application program,and data such as setting information. In particular, the storage unit1120 may collect environment information for each of zones from thesensor 1150 and store the environment information and the energyefficiency information. The storage unit 1120 provides the stored dataaccording to a request of the processor 1130. For example, the storageunit 1120 may transmit the environment information and the energyefficiency information to the processor 1130. The processor 1130controls functions of the zone managing device 500 based on the energyefficiency. The processor 1130 includes the energy management processor1132 and the zone management processor 1134. For example, the energymanagement processor 1132 and the zone management processor 1134 controlthe zone managing device 500 to execute the methods of FIGS. 3, 4, and10 for the energy efficiency. The processor 1130 operates as follows.

The processor 1130 calculates the energy efficiency per zone using thevalues received from the sensors of the zones. The received values mayinclude electricity consumption, an air temperature of the cooling andheating device, the fan speed of the cooling and heating device, anoperating time of the cooling and heating device, a desired temperatureof the room thermostat, and an actual room temperature record of eachzone. The processor 1130 may arrange the zone information using thecalculated energy efficiency, the user information, and the zone statusinformation, prioritize the zones according to the arrangement, andcontrol the display 1140 to display the results.

The display 1140 receives the information from the processor 1130 anddisplay the information on a hardware screen. For example, the display1140 displays the zone list and the zone features on the screen, basedon the zone management information from the controller 1130.

FIG. 12 illustrates zone control of a zone managing device according toan embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 12, the zone managing device 500 may controltelevisions (TVs) 1242, 1244, 1246 and 1248 by controlling a server 1230via an intermediate server 1220 and a zone managing server 1210, ordirectly controlling the server 1230. By controlling the TVs 1242, 1244,1246 and 1248, the zone managing server 1210 may provide information tothe user, display a welcoming message to the user, or display a user'sfavorite channel. By controlling the TVs 1242, 1244, 1246 and 1248, thezone managing device 500 may control devices connected to the TVs 1242,1244, 1246 and 1248. For example, the devices include a thermostat 1260,a light 1262, and a curtain 1264 in the zone based on the userpreference. The functions may be controlled by the manager 1250 via theserver 1230, as well as the zone managing server 1210.

FIGS. 13A to 13C illustrate at least one embodiment using a zonemanaging device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 13A, a zone management service is provided using acloud 1310. The zone managing device may provide the service bycontrolling a system 1320 via not only a local server but also a serverof the cloud 1310.

Referring to FIG. 13B, a zone management service is provided using aportable terminal 1330 (e.g., a user equipment). The zone managingdevice may provide information to the portable terminal 1330 bycommunicating with the portable terminal 1330, provide a mobile keyservice through the portable terminal 1330, and provide a zone controlfunction through the portable terminal 1330. For example, when the useris assigned a zone but wants to a different zone, the zone managingdevice may provide the zone information based on the energy efficiency,to the user.

Referring to FIG. 13C, a zone management service is provided for abusiness-to-business (B2B) service. The zone managing device may beapplied to a cloud server 1340 and the manager may remotely control thezone. The cloud based service may be applied to B2B hospitalityaccommodations, and the service may be applied to more variousstructures, for example, a cruise ship 1350, a hotel 1360, a hospital1370, and a silver town 1380.

As set forth above, the zone management system assigns first the zone ofthe high efficiency in the zone assignment based on the zone energyefficiency, thus saving the cooling and heating energy.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, at leastsome of the devices or methods according to various embodiment of thepresent disclosure as defined by the appended claims and/or disclosedherein is implemented in the form of hardware, software, firmware, orany combination (e.g., module or unit) of at least two of hardware,software, and firmware. The module is the smallest unit of an integratedcomponent or a part thereof and is also the smallest unit that performsvarious embodiments of the present disclosure or a part thereof. Themodule is mechanically or electronically implemented.

If implemented in software, a computer-readable storage medium (orstorage medium readable by a computer) storing at least one program (orprogramming module) is provided. The software may, for example, beimplemented by instructions stored in a computer-readable storage mediumin the form of a programming module. The at least one program includesinstructions that cause the electronic device to perform the methodsaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined bythe appended claims and/or disclosed herein.

The computer-readable storage medium includes magnetic media such as ahard disc, a floppy disc, and a magnetic tape; optical media such as acompact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) and a digital versatile disc(DVD); magneto-optical media such as a floptical disk; a hardware devicespecifically configured to store and execute program instructions (e.g.,programming module), such as a ROM, a random access memory (RAM), and aflash memory; an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM); amagnetic disc storage device; any other type of optical storage device;and a magnetic cassette. Alternatively, any combination of some or allforms a memory in which the program is stored. Further, a plurality ofsuch memories may be included in the electronic device.

In addition, the program is stored in an attachable storage devicecapable of accessing the electronic device through a communicationnetwork such as the Internet, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), awide LAN (WLAN), a storage area network (SAN), or any combinationthereof. Such a storage device accesses the electronic device via anexternal port. Further, a separate storage device on the communicationnetwork accesses a portable electronic device. Any of the hardwaredevices as described above are configured to work as one or moresoftware modules in order to perform the operations according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, and vice versa.

Any of the modules or programming modules according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure includes at least one of the abovedescribed elements, exclude some of the elements, or further includeother additional elements. The operations performed by the modules,programming module, or other elements according to various embodimentsof the present disclosure may be executed in a sequential, parallel,repetitive, or heuristic manner. Further, some operations may beexecuted in a different order, some of the operations may be omitted, orother operations may be added.

While the present disclosure has been shown and described with referenceto various embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilledin the art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure asdefined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for zone management, the apparatuscomprising: a processor configured to: collect environment informationof each zone of a plurality of zones, and determine an energy efficiencylevel of each zone of the plurality of zones based on the environmentinformation.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the energy efficiencylevel indicates energy consumed per unit temperature to maintain aset-point temperature in a corresponding zone.
 3. The apparatus of claim1, wherein the environment information comprises at least one of atemperature, a desired temperature, an air temperature, a fan speed, oroperating information of a cooling and heating device in each zone ofthe plurality of zones.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:at least one sensor installed in each zone of the plurality of zones. 5.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured todetermine the energy efficiency level based on the environmentinformation of each zone of the plurality of zones collected during apreset time period.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein, whendetermining the energy efficiency level, the processor is furtherconfigured to apply a weight to the environment information based on acollected time of the environment information.
 7. The apparatus of claim1, wherein the processor is further configured to prioritize theplurality of zones based on the energy efficiency level of each zone ofthe plurality of zones.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theprocessor is further configured to assign at least one of the pluralityof zones to a user according to the energy efficiency level of the zone.9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configuredto control an environment of each zone of the plurality of zonesaccording to user information, and wherein the environment of each zoneof the plurality of zones comprises one of a television (TV), a curtain,a temperature, and a light.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theprocessor is further configured to assign at least one of the pluralityof zones to a user according to a characteristic of the user and theenergy efficiency level.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein thecharacteristic of the user comprises a zone use pattern, and wherein theprocessor is further configured to assign a user of a regular zone usepattern a zone of the energy efficiency level lower than a setting valueand to assign a user of an irregular zone use pattern a zone of theenergy efficiency level higher than the setting value.
 12. The apparatusof claim 11, wherein the user of the regular zone use pattern comprisesa user defined as a business guest, and the user of the irregular zoneuse pattern comprises a user defined as a tourist.
 13. The apparatus ofclaim 1, further comprising: a display configured to display the energyefficiency level of each of the plurality of zones.
 14. The apparatus ofclaim 13, wherein the display is configured to display the energyefficiency level of each zone of the plurality of zones in a list, andwherein the list is arranged based on at least one of the energyefficiency level, user information, and room information.
 15. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:determine a difference between an energy efficiency level determined ata first time point and an energy efficiency level determined at a secondtime point at one of the zones of the plurality of zones, and display analarm if the difference exceeds a setting value.
 16. A method for zonemanagement, the method comprising: collecting environment information ofeach zone of a plurality of zones; and determining an energy efficiencylevel of each zone of the plurality of zones based on the environmentinformation.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the energy efficiencyindicates energy consumed per unit temperature to maintain a set-pointtemperature in a corresponding zone.
 18. The method of claim 16, whereinthe environment information comprises at least one of a temperature, adesired temperature, an air temperature, a fan speed, or operatinginformation of a cooling and heating device in each zone of theplurality of zones.
 19. The method of claim 16, wherein the collectingof the environment information of the plurality of zones comprises:collecting the environment information from at least one sensorinstalled in each zone of the plurality of zones.
 20. The method ofclaim 16, wherein the determining of the energy efficiency levelcomprises: determining the energy efficiency level based on theenvironment information of each zone of the plurality of zones collectedduring a preset time period.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein thedetermining of the energy efficiency level comprises: when determiningthe energy efficiency level, applying a weight to the environmentinformation based on a collected time of the environment information.22. The method of claim 16, further comprising: prioritizing theplurality of zones based on the energy efficiency level of each zone ofthe plurality of zones.
 23. The method of claim 16, further comprising:assigning at least one of the plurality of zones to a user according tothe energy efficiency level.
 24. The method of claim 23, furthercomprising: controlling an environment of each zone of the plurality ofzones according to user information, wherein the environment of eachzone of the plurality of zones comprises one of a television (TV), acurtain, a temperature, and a light.
 25. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising: assigning at least one of the plurality of zones to a useraccording to a characteristic of the user and the energy efficiencylevel.
 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the assigning of the at leastone of the plurality of zones comprises: assigning a user of a regularzone use pattern a zone of the energy efficiency level lower than asetting value, and assigning a user of an irregular zone use pattern azone of the energy efficiency level higher than the setting value, andwherein the characteristic of the user comprises a zone use pattern. 27.The method of claim 26, wherein the user of the regular zone use patterncomprises a user defined as a business guest, and the user of theirregular zone use pattern comprises a user defined as a tourist. 28.The method of claim 16, further comprising: displaying the energyefficiency level of each zone of the plurality of zones.
 29. The methodof claim 28, further comprising: displaying the energy efficiency levelof each zone of the plurality of zones in a list, wherein the list isarranged based on at least one of the energy efficiency level, userinformation, and room information.
 30. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising: determining a difference between an energy efficiency leveldetermined at a first time point and an energy efficiency leveldetermined at a second time point at one of the plurality of zones; anddisplaying an alarm if the difference exceeds a setting value.
 31. Anon-transitory computer readable storage medium with a computer programstored thereon, the computer program executed by at least one processorto perform the method of claim 16.